News In Brief

DON'T GO THERE It's fixed now, but for a while a perfectly innocent initiative by Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan (D) was causing considerable embarrassment - because it turned out to be anything but. Carnahan launched a web site, the "Governor's Kids Page," last month, featuring "fun facts," coloring books, and the like. Only a few mouse clicks away, however, under "links," was something definitely not for kids - an adult chat room offering exchanges of sexually explicit messages.

WHAT I DID ON MY VACATION So there was Howard Groves, on a pleasure trip to New York, when he happened onto an armed assault near his hotel. Although unarmed himself, Groves chased the two suspects, dodging a bullet before tackling one and holding him until police arrived. It was the first time he'd been shot at, which may not seem unusual until you consider that he's a 19-year veteran of London's police force.

Light-vehicle sales leaders for first two months of '99 US light-vehicle sales totaled 2.385 million in January and February, according to recent reports from automakers. That's up from 2.166 million for the same period last year. General Motors, Ford, and DaimlerChrysler - the traditional US Big Three - continued to dominate, but DaimlerChrysler was the only one of them to improve during the period on its 1998 share of the US market. Toyota showed the greatest increase, moving from a 6.5-percent market share for all of last year to 8.5 percent the past two months. The top 10 in US light-vehicle sales for January and February, the market share for each in that period, as well as the percent change in market share from last year:

1. GM 28.9% -1.7%

2. Ford 24.2% -0.7%

3. D.Chrysler 17.2% +1.1%

4. Toyota 8.5% -0.2%

5. Honda 6.5% -0.0%

6. Nissan 3.7% -0.3%

7. VW 1.6% +0.2%

8. Mazda 1.3% -0.2%

9. Mitsubishi 1.4% +0.2%

10. Mercedes 1.0% -0.1%

- Autodata/Reuters